Distinguished observers from Member States, Indigenous Peoples' Organizations, the lnter-

Governmental system, non-governmental organizations, the academia and the media, indigenous sisters and brothers.

We have come to the closing of the l0th session of the Permanent Forum for 201l. Each of the agenda items has provided important insights and I would like to highlight a few.

We started the session on a very positive note with the Secretary General who said to us

"Raise your voices here at this Forum and beyond. I will urge the world to listen."

Mr. Sha Zukang, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and Coordinator of the Second Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples said that while protecting and guaranteeing the rights of indigenous peoples have been significant challenge over the past decade, indigenous peoples' issues was now firmly on the global radar.

We heard from Ms Kimberly Teehee, the White House Senior Policy Advisor for Native American Affairs of the United States who made reference to the United States President Barack Obama announcing his Government's support for the UN Declaration on l6 December 2010.

We also heard from Ms Rebeca Grynspan, the Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said I-JNDP was working 10 promote indigenous rights more effectively by ensuring all its activities, were in line with the principles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as incorporating the principle of free and informed consent in its work with indigenous peoples.

The Agenda item on Human Rights continues to be an important area again at this session with many people signing up to the speaker's list. We heard from Mr James Anaya, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples who stated that the global consensus now stood behind the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and this should be celebrated. However, its implementation remained a "constant challenge" and strong efforts were needed, nationally and internationally, to make its principles "alive in the reality on the ground" .

Mr José Carlos Morales, chair of the Human Rights Council's Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples also made a presentation. Mr Musa Ngary Bitaye' Commissioner of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights also addressed the Forum.

The regional focus this year was on Central and South America and the Caribbean. A panel of representative from indigenous peoples, organizations, UN agencies and the Government of Guyana made presentations. The speakers made reference to uneven development and persistent socio-economic gaps suffered by indigenous peoples across the Latin America and on Caribbean region which undoubtedly stemmed from the historical wrongs committed indigenous peoples. The strategic means for correcting those wrongs needed urgent revision.

During the discussion on the World Conference on Indigenous peoples' the Chef de Cabinet of the Office of the President of the General Assembly, said that the high level of participation at the tenth session of the Forum spoke not only to the importance of the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples in the overall united Nations context, but also to the shared commitment of multiple stakeholders to address the challenges that indigenous peoples faced around the world. As you might be aware the idea of the World Conference resulted from a General Assembly resolution in December 2010, adopted by consensus and with a large number of co-sponsors. We heard the Permanent Forum is expected to have a central role in providing input into the modalities of the Conference, as well as on its outcome on a later stage.

We also heard from a representative of the Division for Sustainable Development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, on Rio+20 who stated the main entry point for indigenous peoples to interact with the preparatory process for the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development - or Rio+20 - was through the major groups.

During the interactive dialogue with UNICEF we heard that a strategic approach was urgently needed to address "disturbing" gaps between the world's richest and poorest children - in particular indigenous children. Facing a "lifetime of exclusion", indigenous children were more likely to die before the age of five, less likely to be in school and more likely to drop out of school if they did attend.

During the dialogue, there were impassioned appeals from indigenous delegates relating the "tragic" situation of indigenous children and young people in their home countries. Many pointed to shocking statistics that demonstrated poor health indicators, violence, high rates of suicide and prevalent discrimination that acted as a barrier to both education and political participation. The situation was further exacerbated by a lack of reliable data, as well as the absence of a holistic, strategic approach to tackling the crisis, both at the national and international levels.